Development Lab?

[rwd59]

Those in the know help me with this question. Is development better with the development lab on? I turn it off because it is not something I choose to spend time on. Is turning it off having some kind of effect on development in my leagues? Is the game engine set up in a way that players will not develop as quickly with it off than they would if I turned it on and used it?

[jpeters1734]

This is a great question and I don’t know of any tests that explore this. My general thought is that it will not adversely affect your league’s development. Remember ratings in OOTP are all relative to each other so you’re not missing out on development

[MisterTidster]

There’s two separate development features… the Development Focus Tab aka Player Development (with all the sliders) and the Development Lab (off-season feature to choose one category to develop).

For the focus tab, I’ve been extremely happy playing with it off. Players will still develop (or regress) over time just fine and it takes out the tediousness of keeping up with it, and prevents the AI from making horrible choices (like deprioritizing stamina for a starter) that cause players to tank. I felt like I had to spend more time keeping up on it than the rest of the game just to keep the AI from fouling up any of my prospects. Note that last I checked the WIKI penalties for negative sliders are twice the gains of positive sliders, so over the long run the AI is doing more harm than good for most developing players. Only thing I miss is those sliders were the best way to develop specific pitches, since the lab usually only gives you a plus 5 or less to a pitch and you can’t specify a pitch for the lab.

Personally, I like the lab. I’ve bumped slots up to 24 to compensate for not using the other development feature and it’s a fun way to be able to tinker with players abilities. I tend to find the strength and conditioning option critical for big contract players, since a few injuries can cause the death spiral to wrecked and strength and conditioning counteracts that. It’s also fun, since I have a couple independent leagues added to my game and the independent leagues have development lab slots too… a handful of players have gone from the trash heap to the independent leagues, to hitting on a couple labs, to becoming viable major leaguers (very few, but some… mostly independent leagues are nice to have if you need filler at a certain tier in your organization).

[rwd59]

Originally Posted by MisterTidster

There’s two separate development features… the Development Focus Tab aka Player Development (with all the sliders) and the Development Lab (off-season feature to choose one category to develop).

I don't use focus or lab so my original questions remain and I am looking for guidance from people in the know:

Is development better with the development lab (and focus) on? Is turning them off having some kind of effect on development in my leagues? Is the game engine set up in a way that players will not develop as quickly with them off than they would if I turned it on and used it?

[MisterTidster]

Sorry if it was TLDR. Players still develop with those turned off. Without the focus tab, you miss out on ways to customize a player’s skillset. Without the lab you miss out on an additional way to give players a targeted stat boost.

[DetroitStyle]

Originally Posted by MisterTidster

Sorry if it was TLDR. Players still develop with those turned off. Without the focus tab, you miss out on ways to customize a player’s skillset. Without the lab you miss out on an additional way to give players a targeted stat boost.

This isn't entirely true. Individual development (in the player profile, NOT the lab) will not allow you to customize much. For example, you can't put full development into power and expect a 40 power guy to go up to 60. It allows for very minor nudges in those areas and creates a barrier to prevent regression in older players.

To even try would be detrimental. The devs have clearly stated 10 points below the median (using the slider) is worse than 10 points above. So to take power, in my example, and jack it all the way up means to take away significantly in other areas.

You really only can continue to develop what a player already has potential for. So adding 5-10 clicks in power to a guy 40ovr/60pot in power will very slightly help him develop it.

But there really isn't any kind of customization here. You don't have that kind of granular control.